If you grew up watching SCTV, or John Hughes films such as “Uncle Buck” and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” and especially if you grew up in Canada, John Candy is part of your family. Thirty-one years after his death in 1994 at 43, he’s still your Uncle Buck, the guy who makes you laugh the most, cry the most, and feel the most.
Thursday in Toronto, the Newmarket, Ont., native was celebrated at Roy Thompson Hall at a gala screening of the documentary “John Candy: I Like Me.” The film opened the 50th anniversay of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Several hours before that, two dozen or so of us in the press were invited by Prime Video Canada to interview the main players behind the film. Besides director Colin Hanks (whose dad, Tom Hanks — Candy’s cast mate in “Splash” — is in the doc) and producer Ryan Reynolds took questions. Joining them along with moderator George Stroumboulopoulos were two co-executive producers, Candy’s son and daughter Chris and Jennifer Candy-Sullivan.
I interviewed Chris and Jennifer Thursday (hear it in October on brioux.tv: the podcast). Yes, they said, they knew it was going to be a 12 hankie night. Their mom, also a co-executive producer, Rose Candy, was in the back of the room where the press conference took place. (She had company — Ryan Reynolds’ mom).
Reynolds said he wanted to make the film because, as he said to Hanks, “I don’t want to live in a world where there is not a documentary about John Candy.” Not just because Candy was a talented actor and exceptional sketch comedian, he was also, as Reynolds put it, “a fine person when no one was watching.”
Colin Hanks met Candy way back when his dad was shooting “Splash” (1984). He assured Chris and Jennifer that the film must be a celebration, which it absolutely is, but the family was also committed to creating a complete portrait of their father. Candy was a man of big appetites, and, in 1994, that caught up with him.
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Most important to the family was exploring the why. The answer to that comes early in ther documentary with the sudden death of his father. This happened on John’s fifth birthday. It was hard on the entore family, but for John it also seems to have contributed to his exceptional powers of empathy and compassion and also of his surprising anxiety.
Strombo asked the filmmakers about the challenge of dealing with the dark side of people when you have admiration for them. “The bad pitch,” Hanks answered, “would be when you think of an overweight actor who died too young, you think of guys that unfortunatley pass away of a drug overdose. And John didn’t — he passed away because he had a bad heart.
“If there’s no nefarious reason that he passed away,” Hanks continued, “what else is there?” He reasons that Candy’s “everyman qualities were so detailed and so genuine that he suffered from things that everyone suffers from — and that is actually worth examining and looking at.”
Which this documentary does very well. It helps that some of the greatest comedy minds of the past 50 years share their insights. Reynolds said booking Bill Murray — always a challenge — was a last minute win that only came after the film was wrapped. Murray, hilariously, tries to say something bad about the man. Dan Aykroyd was another hard get, until the SNL original invited Reynolds and a crew of four to his well-currated cottage somewhere in Ontario for an overnight, and then promptly kicked them all out the next day. (“The greatest night of my life,” said Reynolds.)
As a student and Harvard Lampoon editor, Conan O’Brien once hosted Candy at the university. In the doc, he singles out the SCTV sketch “Yellowbelly” as the one that blew the doors off any pre-conceived notion he had as to the limits of network comedy.
Others weighing in include Candy’s “Planes, Trains…” co-star Steve Martin, his “Uncle Buck” scene stealer Macaulay Culkin, and the great Mel Brooks who directed Candy in “Spaceballs.” He also talks about when his friend Carl Reiner directed Candy in “Summer Rental.” The SCTV castmate testimonials are all exceptional. Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin, Catherine O’Hara, Martin Short — that they lost a brother still shows, but thirty years later, you can see (through your own tears) the joy on their faces as well as the sorrow.
As son Chris Candy said Thursday when asked why now in 2025 with this documentary: “We were at a place when we were ready to share more.” Lucky us, the audience, to get a new John Candy movie. If you don’t see it at TIFF, see “John Candy: I Like Me” when it comes to Prime Video on Oct. 10.
